Wellness programs offer cost reductions and employee incentives that drive engagement. But can they save the current state of rising healthcare costs and workers’ reliance on greater employer benefits? For quite a few years now, one standard answer to rising...

Free money for your insurance company from the fully-insured employer market In the previous posts in this series we explored the economics of health insurance policies, from the predictable to the unknowable. And how the latter, known as “cost-sharing,” prompts those...

What exactly does your health insurance provider do, and what does it matter to you? In this multi-part series, we discuss in detail the 8 primary functions of your health plan: Negotiate prices with a network of doctors and hospitals. Design insurance plans. Set...

A quarter of new prescriptions aren’t filled by patients due to cost, a problem for consumers, health insurance companies and drug manufacturers. “About 25% of new prescriptions go unfilled by patients due to increasing drug costs. These unfilled prescriptions are...

What do employees want? A robust benefits package makes employees happy (and more likely to stay). Is there a giant disconnect between what employees want from a benefits package and what companies are offering? This question should be in every Benefits Director’s...

How your insurance company gets you to hand them tons of extra cash – the individual market for private insurance In a previous blog post we explored the financial aspects of health insurance policies. To recap, there are three dollar-values in any policy that...